Spray dispensing apparatus



1967 w. G. SHEPPARD ETAL 3,355,072

SPRAY DISPENSING APPARATUS Filed July 1, 1966 INVENTOES WILL/AM GEORGE SHEPP/IRD JQRMAN MAL!) W/A/ LLow) Jozvss HTTORNEVS United States Patent 3,355,072 SPRAY DISPENSING APPARATUS Wiiliarn George Sheppard and Jarman Mald'win Lloyd Jones, London, England, assignors to Riddell Products Limited, London, England, a British company Filed July 1, 1966, Ser. No. 562,174 3 Claims. (Cl. 222-211) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLGSURE A flexible bottle having a neck provided with a lateral spray opening closable by a rotatable cap having a passage selectively alignable with the spray opening. A tube extends from near the bottom of the bottle into the neck near the spray opening and a separate air passage extends from the interior of the bottle into the neck to the spray opening. The cap has spaced inner and outer walls provided with aligned openings constituting the spray passage and the space between the walls serves to collect dripping spray material.

This invention relates to liquid storage and spray dispensing apparatus of the kind having a bellows portion and a liquid containing portion, the spray being dispensed from a nozzle of the apparatus by a pumping action on the bellows portion.

In order to prevent spillage or evaporation of the liquid from the nozzle of the apparatus it is known to provide a removable cap for the apparatus arranged to fit over and seal the nozzle when it is not in use. Such a removable cap has the practical disadvantage that its removal and replacement is tedious and moreover the cap may easily be mislaid in use of the apparatus. It is an object of the present invention to provide a spray dispensing apparatus which will overcome the above mentioned disadvantages.

According to the invention a liquid storage and spray dispensing apparatus of the kind referred to is provided with a cap movably mounted on said nozzle and having an opening therein a'lignable with a spray-discharge orifice in said nozzle, said cap being movable between a first position on said nozzle with said opening and said spray-orifice aligned whereby spray may be dispensed from the apparatus, and a second position with the cap sealing said spray-orifice.

The cap and the nozzle may be of any suitable cooperating shapes that will provide a convenient movement of the cap on said nozzle between said first and second positions. Thus the nozzle may be in the form of a tube closed at its outer end and the cap may comprise a sleeve slidable axially along the tube to align a spray-orifice disposed in the side of the tube with an opening in the sleeve in said first position and to seal the spray-orifice in said second position.

In a preferred embodiment however the nozzle and the cap are at least in part of circular cross-section, the spray-orifice is disposed in the side wall of the nozzle, and the cap is rotatably mounted on said nozzle for a rotation about the axis of the nozzle between said first and second positions. In this case the cap may be mounted on the nozzle for said rotation by means of screw threads formed on the circular cross-section parts of the nozzle and the cap.

In order that the invention may be readily understood one embodiment thereof will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of an apparatus for dispensing asthma inhalant; and

FIG. 2 is a horizontal sectional view taken substantially along the line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

The embodiment to be described is an apparatus particularly intended for use in dispensing a fine atomised spray of an asthma inhalant liquid, and comprises a bottle 1 in the form of a cylindrical body of oval crosssection closed at its lower end and connected by means of shoulders 2 at its upper end to a cylindrical nozzle 3 formed integrally therewith, the nozzle having a uniform circular cross-section somewhat smaller in diameter than the minimum width of the body.

The bottle is formed, for example by a blow-moulding procedure, of a resilient synthetic resin material, such as polyethylene. By forming the bottle of a resilient material, the body is able to serve not only as the liquid holding portion of the apparatus but also as the bellows portion of the apparatus.

A cylindrical nozzle insert 4 of flexible synthetic resin such as polyethylene fits in an air-tight manner within the end of the nozzle facing away from the body. The outer end of the insert is closed by an end wall 5 and is provided with an annular lip 6 to locate it at the end of the nozzle. The end wall of the insert is provided on each side with a boss extending axially of the nozzle. The boss 7 extending outwardly from the nozzle is in the form of a truncated cone and has a spray-orifice 8 in the side wall thereof. The spray-orifice 8 communicates with a passageway 9 extending axially of the nozzle through the end wall of the insert and through the inwardly extending boss 10. The upper end 11 of a tube 12 of flexible synthetic resin such as polyethylene is a push-fit within the passageway 9, the tube 12 being tapered and the bore thereof being reduced at said upper end so as to provide a very narrow exit opening 13 at the upper tip of the tube. The lower end 14 of the tube 12 is disposed just above the lower end of the body 1 so as to be below the surface of the liquid inhalant contained therein. The passageway 9 through the insert is so shaped and arranged as to provide a direct connection from the space inside the upper end of the body, through the passageway alongside the tube 12 and then across the open upper tip 13 of the tube, and into the spray-orifice 8.

The cylindrical nozzle 3 is provided with external screw threads by means of which a cap 15 of synthetic resin material is arranged to be mounted on the nozzle. The cap has two cylindrical coaxial side walls 16 and =17, one within the other, mounted on a closed end wall 18. The outer side wall 16 is considerably longer than the inner wall 17 and is internally threaded for screwing on to the nozzle. When the cap 15 is mounted on the nozzle 3 the outwardly extending boss 7 of the nozzle insert is disposed within the inner cap side wall 17.

A circular opening '19 is disposed in each of the cap outer and inner side walls, the two openings 19 being aligned both radially and axially of the cap 15 with respect to each other. The openings 19 in the cap 15 are alignable with the spray-orifice 8 in a first position of the cap relative to the nozzle 3 and nozzle insert 4, so that a spray may then be dispensed from the apparatus without restriction by the cap 15. As will be obvious from the drawings, the nozzle opening 8 is quite small whereas the openings 19 in the inner and outer walls 16 and 17 are progressively larger in the direction of discharge of spray. The inner surface 26 of the inner side wall 17 is so shaped as to mate with the outwardly extending boss 7 of the nozzle insert 4 so that the spray orifice 8 is closed by this inner surface 20 when the cap 15 is screwed down on the nozzle 3 to a second position where said openings 19 and said spray-orifice 8 are not aligned.

Preferably the nozzle 3, cap openings 19, and nozzle insert 4 are so disposed relative to each other that said cap openings and spray-orifice 8 are aligned in the first position only approximately a quarter of a turn of the cap 15 from the second position at which the spray orifice 8 is closed.

In use of the apparatus particularly described as an asthma inhalant atomiser with a liquid inhalant contained in the bottle, the cap 15 is unscrewed by a quarter turn from the closed position to the position at which the spray-orifice 8 and the cap openings 19 are aligned. The sides of the bottle 1 are then squeezed by hand, causing air to pass rapidly through the passageway 9 in the no'zzle insert and pass over the end 11 of the tube 12 in the passageway 9, so that liquid is entrained up the tube 12 through the narrow exit opening 13 in the tip and into the air stream flowing past. The very narrow exit opening 13 of the tube 12 restricts the liquid flowing therethrough to a thin jet which is broken up by the air stream flowing past the tip 11 into very small drops suitable for inhaling. The air then passes out of the spray-orifice 8 together with a line spray of atomised liquid. The sides of the bottle are repeatedly squeezed and released for as long as it is required to produce the spray of inhalant. Where it is no longer required to use the apparatus, the cap 15 is screwed from the aligned position and tightened onto the nozzle 3 to close the sprayorifice 8.

It will be seen that the apparatus particularly described is advantageous in that it enables the dispensing of a spray without any substantial restriction by the cap but it avoids the above mentioned disadvantages with respect to caps which must be removed in use.

It will further be seen that the annular space between the inner and outer walls of the cap serves, together with the end wall of the nozzle, as a trap for drops of liquid inhalant which might form at the outside of the sprayorifice and which might otherwise run down the outside of the bottle on to the hand of the user. Because of the generally volatile nature of asthma inhalants, the liquid inhalant collected in this annular trap will tend to evaporate away while the apparatus is not in use.

We claim:

1. A liquid storage and spray dispensing apparatus having a bellows portion, a liquid containing portion, a spray dispensing nozzle having a spray-discharge orifice therein from which spray may be dispensed by a pumping action on said bellows portion and a cap movably mounted upon said spray dispensing nozzle, said cap having an opening therein and being movable relative to said spray dispensing nozzle between a first position in which said spray discharge orifice and said opening are aligned so that spray may be dispensed and a second position in which said cap seals said spray discharge orifice, said cap having two cylindrical coaxial side walls, one within the other, said outer and inner side walls each having a circular opening, the two openings being aligned with respect to each other and being alignable with said spray-discharge orifice in said first position of said cap so that spray may be dispensed from the said apparatus without restriction by said cap, said inner wall serving in said second position of the cap to seal said spray-discharge orifice.

2. A liquid storage and spray dispensing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which said outer side wall is longer than said inner wall and is internally screwthreaded for engagement with said spray dispensing nozzle.

3. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 in which said spray discharge orifice, the said opening in the inner side wall and the said opening in the outer side wall are of progressively increasing size relative to one another in the direction of discharge of spray.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,609,235 9/1952 Reimann 222-21l XR 2,700,484 '1/1955 Rathsprecher 2222ll XR 2,924,393 2/1960 Robert 222-553 XR 2,987,261 6/1961 McCuiston 239-371 XR 3,152,734 10/1964 Berry 222211 3,255,934 6/1964 Leonard 2222ll ROBERT B. REEVES, Primary Examiner.

WALTER SOBIN, Examiner. 

1. A LIQUID STORAGE AND SPRAY DISPENSIG APPARATUS HAVING A BELLOWS PORTION, A LIQUID CONTAINING PORTION, A SPRAY DISPENSING NOZZLE HAVING A SPRAY-DISCHARGE ORIFICE THEREIN FROM WHICH SPRAY MAY BE DISPENSED BY A PUMPING ACTION ON SAID BELLOWS PORTION AND A CAP MOVABLY MOUNTED UPON SAID SPRAY DISPENSING NOZZLE, SAID CAP HAVING AN OPENING THEREIN AND BEING MOVABLE RELATIVE TO SAID SPRAY DISPENSING NOZZLE BETWEEN A FIRST POSITION IN WHICH SAID SPRAY DISCHARGE ORIFICE AND SAID OPENING ARE ALIGNED SO THAT SPRAY MAY BE DISPENSED AND A SECOND POSITION IN WHICH SAID CAP SEALS SAID SPRAY DISCHARGE ORIFICE, SAID CAP HAVING TWO CYLINDRICAL COAXIAL SIDE WALLS, ONE WITHIN THE OTHER, SAID OUTER AND INNER SIDE WALLS EACH HAVING A CIRCULAR OPENING, THE TWO OPENINGS BEING ALIGNED WTH RESPECT TO EACH OTHER AND BEING ALIGNABLE WITH SAID SPRAY-DISCHARGE ORIFICE IN SAID FIRST POSITION OF SAID CAP SO THAT SPRAY MAY BE DISPENSED FROM THE SAID APPARATUS WITHOUT RESTRICTION BY SAID CAP, SAID INNER WALL SERVING IN SAID SECOND POSITION OF THE CAP OF SEAL AND SPRAY-DISCHARGE ORIFICE. 